These Researchers Used AI to Design a Completely New "Animal Robot"

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March 07, 2023

Researchers have built tiny robots out of frog stem cells. These self-powered "xenobots" blur the line between living organism and automaton—and they could one day swim through the human body to perform medical marvels. Read more in this week's top story!

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology @sophiebushwick

Artificial Intelligence These Researchers Used AI to Design a Completely New 'Animal Robot' "Xenobots" are living, swimming self-powered robots that measure less than a millimeter across. They are evolved by artificial intelligence and built out of frog stem cells—and they could open new medical frontiers. By Luke Groskin

Food Why Is It So Hard to Make Vegan Fish? Futuristic food science technology could finally bring plant-based salmon filets and tuna steaks to the table By Joanna Thompson

Politics We Must Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race Smart U.S. leadership and international pressure on Russia can prevent an unconstrained global nuclear arms race By Daryl G. Kimball,Frank von Hippel

Aerospace What Can We Do to Make Sure the FAA and Southwest Airlines Fiascoes Never Happen Again? Congress and the airline industry must reassess how they approach and fund air transportation modernization By Laurie Garrow

Energy Nuclear Waste Is Piling Up. Does the U.S. Have a Plan? We needs a permanent national nuclear waste disposal site now, before the spent nuclear fuel stored in 35 states becomes unsafe By Allison Macfarlane,Rodney C. Ewing

Artificial Intelligence Who Is Liable When AI Kills? We need to change rules and institutions while still promoting innovation to protect people from faulty AI By George Maliha,Ravi B. Parikh

Robotics Soft Robots Take Steps toward Independence Squishy robots can now heal themselves and grow as they explore By Nora Bradford

Anthropology Humans Started Riding Horses 5,000 Years Ago, New Evidence Suggests Archaeologists have found a handful of human skeletons with characteristics that have been linked to horseback riding and are a millennium older than early depictions of humans riding horses By Meghan Bartels

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Even before the COVID pandemic, companies tried to enhance employee well-being with interventions such as wellness programs. The new report suggests that a four-day workweek could be a tool for this purpose." Jan Dönges, Sophie Bushwick, Scientific American

FROM THE ARCHIVE World's First "Living Machine" Created Using Frog Cells and Artificial Intelligence Scientists used computer algorithms to develop a programmable organism made of frog DNA By Mindy Weisberger,LiveScience | January 2020

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